October 3/06 9:19 am - Long Island 'Cross Weekend

Posted by Editor on 10/3/06

Long Island 'Cross Weekend - New York

October 3, 2006

New year, new bikes, new components, same results. The first major race weekend of the 2006 North American cyclocross season saw Team Cyclocrossworld.com pick up right where it left off in '05: winning. Defending Canadian National Champion Lyne Bessette swept the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 Whitemore's Super Cross in Southampton, NY while Team CXW.com's new addition, Ben Jacques-Maynes, rode to a solid pair of top-10s against a stacked Elite men's field.

Lyne ran away with Saturday's Elite women's opener on the fast power course. On Sunday, U.S. mountain bike national champ Georgia Gould (Luna) stayed with Lyne for the first lap of the twisty course, but when Lyne made a strategic decision to run a climb Gould opted to ride, the winning gap opened and win number two was in the bag.

"I was nervous for sure," said Lyne, who had raced sparingly since her retirement from road racing earlier in the year. "But I've been more nervous in the past. I felt good both days, everything was running so well especially the new Thorne bikes and the SRAM components."

In his return to the Elite men's national 'Cross circuit, Ben showed hardly any rust, finishing 6th both days against a loaded field.

"I think it was a good opening weekend," said Ben, who raced only one UCI level event in 2005. "It left room for improvement, but I was surprised that I was able to 'Cross as good as I did. The legs feel strong but I'm missing some of the punch you need for 'Cross. That will come as I race more and add some speed to my road fitness."

Team Director and Cyclocrossworld.com owner Stu Thorne was justifiably thrilled with the national debut of Thorne Cyclocross Frames: "To have Lyne kill it both days and get on the podium was incredible. Everything was perfect, it was pretty exciting to see the bikes out there in the mix."